PFC Jeremy Shay from Neillsville, WI; Lance Cpl Homero Resendez; Lance Cpl Kevin Fagerland from Pinckneyville, IL;

The Marines here group PT every morning and for most, they said Indy was the first ship they have ever been deployed on.

And that (below) MM3 Jeff Walker from Saint Louise, MO who was caught off guard as he was coming up from the #1 pump room down there. I was testing out the zoom and composed this shot while he was still three decks below.

Getting ready to move some aircraft around in Hangar Bay One was ABH3 Paul Montez (left) from San Antonio, TX and ABH3 James Bencomo from Albuquerque, NM. Montez is TAD from North Island in San Diego, CA. "The pace is much faster here than I expected," he said.

It wasn't long before I was on the flight deck using the zoom lens to capture Lt. Cmdr. Yarema "Yarko" Sos (below), the Commander, Naval Air Pacific's choice for the 1997 Aviator of the Year.

Pictured here in the following photos are: Staff Sgt. David Grise from Gary, IN; Lance Cpl Kevin Pykiet from Owasso, OK; Lance Cpl Stan Williams from Mount Vernon, IL;

Lance Cpl Tom Lindsley from Allegan, MI; Lance Cpl Nic Cooklin from Seattle, WA; and David Lampron from Edmeston, NY.

Well, yesterday I got to play with some new software, today I was testing out a new digital camera. So immediately I headed out and around the ship. The camera has zoom capabilities... this (below) is part of the maze that opens up the innards of Indy. That's looking down six decks.

Over in Indy's Electrical Safety shop (below), I stopped FA Ferdinand Calceta from Manila, Philippines; EMFA Ryan Carter from Chicago, IL; EMFN Diego Alvarez from Cape Coral, FA; and EMFN Marc Lacey from Houston, TX to grab a quick photo. Here they make sure all the electrical tools on Indy are safe for shipboard use. Plus they do electrical safety checks on Sailors personal items like razors, radios, TV's, laptops, and anything needing electricity.

Bencomo has been on Indy for more than three years and said there's a rush in moving the aircraft within inches of each other. "Just missing my parents back home... hello mom."

Standing by ready for recoveries to begin was Airman Solomon Scofield (below) from Everett, WA. He said his average day consisted of 20-hours on the flight deck and then he hits the rack and gets ready for the next day. "It's a lot of work, but it's exciting being next the jets landing one after another," he asked if he could say "hello" to his girlfriend Stacy. I said, "sure."